Guide wires and other tools used for assisting insertion of medical devices such as catheters into the body are inserted into and optionally placed in blood vessels, respiratory tracts, urethra, and other body cavities or tissues. When a medical device such as a catheter or guide wire is inserted into the body, the medical device may damage the tissue or the like in the body and produce inflammation or cause pain to the patient. To ameliorate these problems, it has been desired to improve the sliding properties of the medical devices intended to be inserted into the body.
To ameliorate the above problems, a method has been proposed in which the surface of a medical device such as a catheter or guide wire is coated with a hydrophilic resin, a fluororesin, or the like.
Moreover, the insertion of a syringe needle into the body may also damage the tissue or the like in the body and cause pain to the patient. Furthermore, if the inner surface of a syringe needle, a metal tube in a medical device or equipment, or other metal devices exhibits reduced lubricity when wetted, there may be difficulties in rapidly and accurately delivering chemicals or blood. Accordingly, it has also been desired to improve and maintain the lubricity of the inner surface of these devices when wetted.
As described above, there have been needs to improve the sliding properties of medical devices and syringe needles, and to improve and maintain the lubricity of the inner surface of syringe needles, metal tubes in medical devices or equipment, or other metal devices when wetted. Various methods have therefore been tried to impart lubricity to the surface of medical devices such as catheters or guide wires to improve the sliding properties thereof.
However, all these methods only allow the surface of medical devices to be coated with a resin or to be cured after the coating. Especially in cases where the surface of the medical device is made of a metal, the coating resin, which is not firmly bonded to the surface of the medical device, is easily peeled or removed from the surface of the medical device, unfortunately resulting in reduction in the sliding properties of the medical device. Accordingly, there is a need for the development of metal medical devices that exhibit reduced deterioration in sliding properties. In addition, there is still room for improvement in enhancing and maintaining the lubricity of the inner surface of syringe needles, metal tubes in medical devices or equipment, or other metal devices when wetted.